Vista - XP machine drops network connection to Vista machine

I have an unusual problem that I have not seen in any postings here.

Computer 1 is my home desktop running Vista Premium SP1. It is on the
'workgroup' workgroup.
Computer 2 is my work laptop (on docking station) running XP Pro SP2. It is
on a domain called 'amer'.
There is an HP LaserJet 2100 connected to the Vista machine. It is shared.
This is a wired network with D-Link router.

At first I thought it was a sharing issue when I could not print from the XP
machine to the printer on the Vista machine. But then I realized it is a
network issue because if I try to browse the Vista machine from the XP
machine I get the 'no access, you may not have permission', etc. message.
To make it work, I :

1. start the XP machine (assuming the Vista machine is already running)
2. wait about 15 minutes for the Vista machine to see that the XP machine is
there.
3. Browse to and open the XP machine from the Vista machine
4. Go to the XP machine, open its workgroup (amer) and then open the XP
machine
5. Wait a minute or so, then while still on the XP machine, navigate to
Vista machine's workgroup ('workgroup') and open the workgroup. If the Vista
machine appears I am good to go. I don't need to browse it, it just needs
to appear.

If I don't go through these steps, I get the 'no access etc' message when I
try to open the Vista machine workgroup from the XP machine and the Vista
machine does not show up. (although I can ping it successfully).
Now here's the rub. This wouldn't be so bad if I only had to do it once
then it's ok until I re-start or something. But after a couple of minutes,
the connection goes away and I have to go back to step 4. again.

I know that is my printing issue because if I try and print something when
the connection is not working, it will not print and then as soon as I do
step 5 it starts printing the document on its own.

I realize that they should ideally be in the same workgroup, but the XP
machine is on a domain, and once when I put the Vista machine on a workgroup
with the same name (amer) and opened the XP domain, it started finding every
computer on that domain in my company all over the world. . . thousands.
I don't really know how a workgroup and domain work together, if someone
wants to enlighten me, I would appreciate it.

Again, when the connection is not working, I can ping the Vista machine from
the XP machine, so I guess it is some kind of authentication issue. My
McAfee firewall is turned off Windows Firewall is on ( I've tried it with it
off, no difference).

Sorry this is so long but it seems a little odd, and I wanted to include as
much info as possible instead of this being one of those 'my stuff doesn't
work, what am I doing wrong' posts with no information!

Thanks to anyone who can help!

maybe you shouldn't be playing around with your EDS PC?

Wow jctallman your insight is stunning or shall I say your ignorance is stunning.... look the Guy posted a question requesting at the minimum and intelligent discourse to help him atleast understand what whats going on. But your answer is one that a snotty 16 year old gives to an adult he dislikes.

I tell you now i can't answer his question and sure won't waste his time insulting him. I'll just wait till someone who can answer it does.

You should just keep your worthless opinions to yourself....

Can you connect the printer to the XP machine instead? Might work
better (just a guess since XP is not in domain but Vista is, but is
just a guess).

I had similar situation at home for a while and then recently bought a
networked printer (printer plugs directly into the network). Made my
life so much easier. Networked printers are pretty common and cheap
now.

HTH,

Sam




On Sun, 25 Jan 2009 14:29:55 -0500, "msnews.microsoft.com"
<jgraziano@xxxxxx> wrote:

Pochrist,
the answer was an observation concerning security of a Corporate network and not meant to be "Snotty" but I can see how it looks that way

There are two possible solutions here.
One - use a thumb drive between the Company PC and the Home PC. This has risks but are minimal if the drive is scanned first.

Two - connect the personal printer to the company PC and use it that way. Since I know for sure that msnews.microsoft.com has admin rights to his company PC the install of the driver is fairly simple.

No security violated and no personal PCs on the company intranet.